After getting married and having an affair, Mrs. Das was in relative isolation, had no career, and no longer loved her husband. This simple description of having a “plump” figure describes not only the physical change guilt has caused, but the mental one as well. In addition to her figure, Lahiri also describes Mrs. Das as having pale, drowsy eyes. The state of her eyes reveal that Mrs. Das is so completely numb to the world due to her guilt that even her eyes appear dull and lifeless. Mrs. Das’s drowsy eyes symbolize how exhausted she is living a life consumed by guilt. Mrs. Das is not only physically drained from living with this guilt, she is emotionally and mentally drained as well. Lahiri also describes Mrs. Das wearing a shirt that has a strawberry on the center of her chest. This is an allusion to The Scarlet Letter, whose character, like Mrs. Das, is forced to display her adultery outwardly. Unlike Hester
After getting married and having an affair, Mrs. Das was in relative isolation, had no career, and no longer loved her husband. This simple description of having a “plump” figure describes not only the physical change guilt has caused, but the mental one as well. In addition to her figure, Lahiri also describes Mrs. Das as having pale, drowsy eyes. The state of her eyes reveal that Mrs. Das is so completely numb to the world due to her guilt that even her eyes appear dull and lifeless. Mrs. Das’s drowsy eyes symbolize how exhausted she is living a life consumed by guilt. Mrs. Das is not only physically drained from living with this guilt, she is emotionally and mentally drained as well. Lahiri also describes Mrs. Das wearing a shirt that has a strawberry on the center of her chest. This is an allusion to The Scarlet Letter, whose character, like Mrs. Das, is forced to display her adultery outwardly. Unlike Hester